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Oceana third class experience at first class prices!

Sail Date:
May 2013

Destination:
Europe - British Isles & Western

Embarkation:
Lisbon

Last June my family and I took the Oceana Nautica from Lisbon to South Hampton. I think we could sum up the whole shipboard experience in one word: Disappointing. The prior year we took Silverseas from Athens to Rome and had such a wonderful experience on a smaller ship that we were hoping to have a similar experience with Oceania. Unfortunately, the similarities between the two often compared cruise lines ended at the size of their ships. While this is a review of the Oceanic ship Nautica, it's hard not to compare it with our Silverseas experience.

The Ship: The overall condition of the Nautica was tired and worn. The cabin was poorly laid out compared to our Silverseas cabin (same class of cabin). The hallways looked like they needed new carpet and reminded me of a cheap hotel every time we went to our cabin. The rest of the ship was ok though the pool deck furniture was weathered and well past its prime.

The Food: The specialty restaurants were over-rated, though More
nearly impossible to book undoubtedly because, as we quickly discovered, the other two dining options: Main Dining Room and Buffet were respectively mediocre and bad. To make matters worse, they put the more surly crew members at the buffet line to plop the overcooked, flavor challenged food on your plate. As you carried your plate away you were left with the feeling that you had somehow been through this before and then you remember oh yeah, my high school cafeteria. The dining on the Nautica was more like what I would expect on a Carnival cruise.

To summarize, I would say that Silverseas stood head and shoulders above Oceania in every aspect of the cruise Condition of the ship, cleanliness and food. I personally would not waste my money on Oceana again! Less